4.
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"30 Article Writing Tips"
Today's SOHO Help Desk provides great advice on how to
write articles for your Internet marketing strategy.
If you have a valuable tip, promotional idea, question or
answers you would like included in an upcoming issue of
DEMC, all you have to do is submit it by email to -
mailto:helpdesk@demc2.com
== 30 Article Writing Tips ==
From: Craig Lock
Articles are great promotion tool for your online business.
Writing articles can provide you with enormous amount of
exposure on the Web (sounds "rude, that). You are branding
yourself on a shoestring budget - it hasn't cost you a cent,
but a little time and effort.
People want quality content for their ezines and their web
sites; however, the competition for content is fierce. Every
Web site owner wants content and hundreds of writers
want their content visible on the Web. It's FR*EE promotion
through your signature file at the end of your article*.
If you can write an article about your business, you can
increase your links in 24 hours! As the internet adress in
your resource box at the end of your articles gets picked up
by the main search engine spiders, like Google and Yahoo.
Writing a free content article is simple and follows a
similar professional approach as an article for a standard,
paying market. So let's review some pointers in writing
articles for the www:
Firstly,
1. Offer Something of Value, a Real Benefit to people.
Articles that give good helpful information or explain how
to accomplish something are usually best, and will be read
most often.
2. Try to get into the publishers mind. See things from their
point of view - why should they publish your article? In
what way will it benefit their readers?
3. Accept that writing for the web is different to writing
for the off-line world. People tend to skim and scan (note
alliteration) when reading online. They read quickly
scrolling down the page.
4. Identify your target audience.
5. Give your article a catchy title that will grab attention
and make people want to read.
6. Keep your title reasonably short. Put some thought and
effort into your heading - again to get your reader's
immediate attention.
7. Be professional and take your article writing seriously.
Write about something you know professionally. Don't be
overly casual in your writing (ie. don't write exactly as
you speak)
8. Keep your paragraphs short.
9. Be Clear and Concise. Get to the point quickly (enough
waffle with maple syrup, Craig!).
10. Target your article to your audience with "focused
information".
11. Be brief, if you are a "waffler", like this writer.
People want immediate information online and have
limited time usually - it's the instant_coffee, sorry
generation.
12. Write briefly and concisely (redundant words, meaning
the same thing, Craig!) Try to keep your article under
1,500 words. Most paying markets usually only accept
between 500 and 2,000 words... and with a bit of luck they
may even "pick up" your great article. Try to be concise in
your wording. Brevity is the hall-mark of good writing...or
so say many of the teachers of writing!
13.. Use the OCCASIONAL exclamation mark (!) to get
your readers attention. Forget the ALL CAPITAL
LETTERS and exclamation points!!!
14. Be credible (big word, eh?) at all times.I try to write
my articles in a "conversational style with dashes of my
funny humour".
15.. Use HUMOUR. People like to have a bit of fun with
the occasional laugh, whilst being informed on a serious
subject. At least I believe so!
16. Write from "your heart", so that you come across as a
REAL person. Just write what comes naturally with
INTEGRITY...and BE YOURSELF.
17. Be totally honest in your writing and don't "borrow" too
much from others content. It's so easy to "steal" on the www
- so do your own work and if you "borrow ideas or material,
ACKNOWLEDGE. "Incidentally, I have borrowed some ideas in
this article from some good writers and well-known internet
marketers - thanks a lot, David, Michael, John, Meredith,
Joe, Edward, Ken and Mark).
18. Be humble.and don't talk down to your readers.
19. Use bullets (not live, please, oops er sorry, bad taste)
in your articles - it makes the points easy to follow.
20. Don't forget your byline ...or your "business card".
Make sure that you resource box at the end of the article
provides enough information to identify yourself and provide
contact information. It's FR*EE advertising.
21. Offer a fr'ee report with your article - this is an
easy way to collect a list of adresses for marketing your
product(s). An immediate target market.
22. Test all the links in your article before submitting it.
23. Offer your articles by autoresponder
24. Conclude with a strong message. Your final point (and
paragraph) should be a message that summarises your article
or gets your reader to take further action, like "GET
STARTED" (as I've done in this article).
25. Pay attention to feedback you get for your articles.
Getting constructive feedback about your articles
can help you to write better through encouragement.
A very powerful motivator to write more articles..
26. Finally, make sure your layout is good (not one of my
strong points!), as this greatly enhances your prospects of
getting published Use plenty of white spaces, as this makes
your piece more easily read.
27. Proof-read. Review your articles for errors:
spelling, grammar and punctuation. Use a spell-checker.
Go over your article carefully and be an editor yourself.
28. Make sure your article flows properly.
29. Re-read and re-read, until you get it "just right."
and finally...
30. Keep a file of articles you've written or ones that lie
unfinished. You may have many new ideas since then.
Set aside time to work on them. You may even put them
into an ebook.
Self discipline is the key to writing success.
"Aim for perfection, but settle for excellence" in your
article writing.
Happy writing,
Craig Lock
P.S: I hope that these tips help in your article writing.
In my opinion it's the best internet marketing strategy.
To your internet marketing dreams in 2005...and beyond.
###
Craig's mission is to encourage people to believe in themselves
And help inspire people around the world to achieve their goals
and dreams in life. See his Writing Course:
http://www.craiglock.com/downloads/cwcourse.html
The "original" online writing course. 15 entertaining lessons
Learn about writing for PR0FIT and for FUN.
Books by Craig Lock are available at:
http://www.bridgeniche.com and
http://www.craiglock.com/books.html
"Uplifting, encouraging and empowering people through the
power of words and thought energy. Change YOUR world
and you change THE world."
===
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